Cinder and Cedar Bar, Again... Pinterest Helped!
10 Materials
$200
4 Days
Medium
I love Pinterest! My husband acts like he is tired of my "DIY projects", but he sure loves the results!! He also loves the fact that my manicures have become a distant memory and instead of going to the salon and shopping for clothes/shoes, my trips have been to Lowe's, Home Depot, pawn shops, ace hardware and anywhere else I can find what I need! Somehow these "shopping trips" are justifiable to him... but I always had to explain my love for shoes!! Hmmm...
Anyway, this was one of the more difficult projects I have done. (Although like some of my projects, they didn't need to be more difficult- I modified what I found and made it suit our needs better- which made it a bit more challenging)! After ours was done, I did one with my friend who loved ours and it was much more simple. She wanted "rustic", which meant a lot less sanding! And you know what? It's just as amazing as ours! So when you read this, remember... you can definately take some shortcuts.. save some money and time and have an amazing result!
Loved this project!
Made a few trips to Home Depot. We purchased cinder blocks and 4x4s in rough cut cedar. You can use regular 4x4s for this, but we really love the look of sanded cedar finished with tongue oil. Also, I learned too late: both Home Depot and Lowes will deliver large orders. Had I known in advance, I most definately would have chosen that option. I was impatient and wanted to take everything home and start... as a result, I was aching for days and had blisters that lasted weeks!! Lol
Loaded up!
I have no idea which trip this was, but thankfully I was able to borrow my friends trailer.
These things are long!
Laying out lumber, preparing to glue, screw and sand!
Did I mention these are rough cut?!! OMG we sanded and sanded and sanded some more!
Like a puzzle
While the cedar was clamped and drying, we decided to start stacking the blocks. This part was fun.
Tip: paint the blocks! we painted them a clay color- maintained the color of concrete but made them much more smooth.
Clamped, glued and screwed!
This was the hardest part for me. (The waiting) I wanted these things done so I could sand!!!
Hubby with belt sander
Fortunately, he is in great shape! His sanding probably saved a couple of days for me! That palm sander just didn't do what the belt sander did! I tried using it and held it in one place too long. It made a divet! I handed it back to my husband.
My turn!
Getting much smoother!! Almost ready for tung oil!
There are no words
I can't tell you how excited I was when I saw what this tung oil did. It gave it a "live edge" sort of feel and it was sooooo smooth and beautiful! It was very late at this point, so we had to stop for the night and resume the next day. I don't think I slept I was so excited!
We love it!
We added a piano hinge on the side, so we can move the side up to get behind the bar (like a REAL BAR)!!
We topped it with several thin coats of spar urethane. It has UV protection and a sort of gold cast to it, so it truly added some beautiful warm tones to the natural cedar.
We put LED candles in the spaces in the cinder blocks. We found the ski at a yard sale for 3.00 and just hung the TV the other night.
If anyone has questions, please feel free to comment and I will help as much as I can!! Thanks for reading!!
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Comments
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2 of 119 comments
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Love this! Good job folks
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This is beautiful, I agree the finished wood is gorgeous. You should be so proud of yourselves for creating such a nice space. My only issue with it would be dragging myself away from it long enough to get things done!
Frequently asked questions
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I understand thats the finished picture, but I don't see the paint on the blocks? Maybe it was before they were painted? Also I suggest proof reading your post before posting. There were some parts I found confusing.
if this a DIY outdoor bar? Maybe I missed the finished product photo.
How did you secure your cinder blocks together?